GBEmu is a simple Nintendo Gameboy (DMG) emulator written in C++, using SDL for the GUI. It can run a large portion of the Game Boy library, including popular titles such as Pokemon and Kirby.
To build from source, clone the repository and cd into the directory. From there, run the following command to build the Release target:
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -S . -B build/Release/ && cd build/Release/ && make
To build the Debug target, run:
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -S . -B build/Debug/ && cd build/Debug/ && make
Run the GBEmu executable in the corresponding directory to run the emulator.
- Start: A
- Select: S
- A: Z
- B: X
- D-pad: Arrows
- Save current cartridge RAM: P
- Manually load cartridge RAM: L
- Fast-forward: Space
- Increase/Decrease volume: [ and ]
- Passes all tests in blargg's cpu_instrs test ROM
- Nearly complete MBC 1 and 3 support
- Complete (if buggy) sound support
- Real Time Clock (RTC) support
- CPU stepping and breakpoints
- Nearly complete interrupt support, including timers
- Compiles on both Windows and Linux (and presumably MacOS as well) using CMake
- Fix sound bugs
- HALT bug emulation
- MBC 2 support
- Savestates
- Rewind
- Advanced debugging features such as memory dumping
- Screen upscaling/filters
- UI
| ROM | Compatibility notes |
|---|---|
| Asteroids | Fully playable, but the ship sprite occasionally bugs out. |
| Asteroids & Missile Command | Fully playable. |
| Blargg's Test ROMs | Passes all tests in the cpu_instrs ROM. |
| Donkey Kong Land | Title screen shows, and gets to a flickering menu after that. Can get in-game, but video is messed up. I think the cartridge assumes it's running on a GBC. |
| Dr. Mario | Boots to menus, but hangs when going in-game (probably due to incomplete timer support). |
| Galaga & Galaxian | Fully playable. |
| Kirby's Dream Land | Playable, but sound is buggy. |
| Pokemon Gold | Playable, but sound is buggy. |
| Pokemon Red | Fully playable, but sound is kinda buggy. |
| Pokemon Yellow | Intro plays, but crashes on an unimplemented ROM write (MBC5) |
| Super Mario Land | Fully playable. |
| The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening | Fully playable. |
| Tetris | Fully playable. |
| Tetris 2 | Fully playable. |
- Sound is buggy, and can sometime desync with the video. It is very dependent upon CPU speed. Faster systems will cause the sound to play faster and at a higher pitch. This also seems to affect Windows more than Linux, possibly due to the higher precision of usleep vs. SDL_Delay.
- Incomplete timer support causes some games to hang.
- Not all MBC configurations are supported.
This software uses SDL, which is licensed under the zlib license.